Stupar lifts D-C to title game
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Stupar-man.
Dundee-Crown needed an offensive hero after falling behind Kaneland 13-9 in the first quarter of Friday's semifinal of the Leland G. Strombom Holiday Tournament at Sycamore.
Enter senior Rob Stupar, who came off the bench as if he'd just changed in a phone booth.
Stupar missed his first 2 attempts from 3-point range but soon caught fire and drained the next 6 shots he took from that distance to give Dundee-Crown a 27-15 lead with 5:38 left in the second quarter.
Stupar would connect on 2 more 3-pointers before the half ended and 2 more in the fourth quarter to finish with 10 shots from long range, a school record, in 15 attempts. His 31 points were enough to lift the Chargers to a 60-49 victory and a berth in Saturday's 7:30 p.m. tournament final against Huntley, which defeated Kaneland 63-36.
"I just got hot," Stupar said. "I missed those first two, then I hit one, then another and another and I was just feeling it after that. It just happens like that. You get in the zone and feels like you can make them all and the basket's just huge."
Stupar's hot streak went supernova with 1:04 left in the first half. After Justin Strzelczyk missed a 3-pointer, Chargers Charles Kimbrough and Jeff Beck each came up short on putback attempts. Beck's shot rebounded long to Stupar at the arc, where he loosed his eighth and final 3-pointer of the first half and was fouled to boot for a 4-point play and a 35-26 Dundee-Crown lead.
"He just kept knocking them down and four or five times we were in his face," Kaneland coach Dennis Hansen said. "He just shot over us. I thought we did a better job on him in the second half, but in the first half he was a one-man show out there."
Junior guard Ryley Bailey junior center Dave Dudzinski led Kaneland (1-1) with 12 points apiece and senior guard Brody Root added 10 points.
Marcus Henry had 8 points and Aaron Reams contributed 6 points and 5 rebounds for Dundee-Crown (2-0), which outrebounded Kaneland 28-14.